Standards describe the best way to do something. Making a product, providing a service or managing a process, ... You can't stack containers, surf the 5G network or follow agreements around fire safety without involving standards. Standards are also used and applied for safe toys, energy efficient buildings and securing IT systems.
A study shows that standards are an essential factor in developing quality products and services. Therefore, we think it is important that standards users have access to a user-friendly platform. From the study, we also learned which features are priorities for the further development of our platform.
We kicked off the year with the result of long preparation: our revamped platform launched with a new underlying technology, along with our refreshed website and corporate identity in March. This set the tone for the further development of our standards platform. New shoppers and users who were migrated to this environment found their way back in smoothly.
We joined forces with the BEC to offer all standards on electrotechnics and electronics together with all other Belgian, European and international standards. This gave them immediate access to Belgian, IEC and ISO standards and their available translations.
Our experts ensure that standards are developed in new fields, and that technological developments are closely monitored and shared with the field. We counted no fewer than 3,034 Belgian experts in 713 standards committees. They ensure that we worked on standards in various domains that made a real impact.
Our sectoral operators form the bridge between NBN and the business world. It is thanks to their contacts within the sector that the right experts are put forward for the standards committees, and that standards are given sufficient support within their sector. Let us also not forget that they play an active role in the running of the expert committees and thus make an enormous contribution to standards development in Belgium.
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In the context of knowledge transfer, NBN makes all standards available free of charge for academic purposes - from theses and teaching to research use. Thus, academics, teachers, students and pupils can access the wealth of knowledge through the Edu portal. To strengthen this awareness and promote the use of the portal, we actively campaigned for it. Not without success; we achieved more than 240,000 consultations.
We also presented the NBN Sustainability Award for the first time this year. From a shortlist of theses with sustainability as the central theme, four students from various graduate programs defended their thesis before a panel of judges. It was a neck-and-neck race, with one winner and three runner-ups.
Our ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 training courses in Dutch and French have received a lot of positive feedback over the past year. In the words of one of the participants:
"I would like to express my thanks to the team behind this excellent course and to NBN for providing quality educational programmes."
The offering of e-learnings in English was also particularly well received. As a result, we reached a wider audience. In addition, we are seeing an increasing number of returning customers - a sign that customer satisfaction is high, which is one of the most important drivers for us as organisation .
In November, we organized our seventh Thank You Event. Where we thanked all the experts and organizations that contribute to standards development. You probably also saw one of our online articles in collaboration with the Tijd-l'Echo in the past year. Or you met one of our colleagues at the highLIGHTs seminar, at the SDG forum or at one of our own Open Doors for future standards developers. We also signed on to present an award at FireForum, and were present at Acumen.
We represented Belgium at the 57th meeting of the EFSD (European Forum for Standards Distribution) in Stockholm, and organized ISO/TC37 in consultation with the European institutions.
The mandate of our CEO, Johan Haelterman, on ISO's Board of Directors has come to an end after 3 years. We want to continue to play a role internationally. Our CIO, Yvan Baes, has been elected by the ISO Board of Directors as a member of the ISO IT Strategic Advisory Board for a mandate of 3 years.
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Sustainability plays an important role in all committees, but we draw specific attention to a number of standards committees where the social impact is palpably present. Just think of the concrete standards projects around circular economy, hydrogen, occupational health and safety, energy management, biodiversity and the SDGs.
More and more organizations are taking responsibility for sustainable policies. To do so, they rely on the 17 sustainable development goals - or Sustainable Development Goals - of the United Nations. Standards are a useful tool for translating those goals into concrete action plans.
NBN also contributes to achieving those goals as a member of the ISO network. Learn more about the 17 sustainable development goals and how standards contribute to them here.
Number of ISO standards per SDG
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